Waltz! Dance at the Gourmet Ball!
by mjnousak
Summary: Toriko gives Komatsu two tickets to the exclusive IGO Gourmet Ball, and Komatsu decides to take Melk II as his date. What adventures could possibly await them at a ball you ask? Silly customer, this is the Toriko-verse, anything can be made exciting here! Prepare your pallets for a wild night!


"Hey Komatsu" Toriko greeted his combo partner as he walked into Hotel Gourmet's kitchen, at least a dozen staff members hurriedly following him and begging him not to eat out their pantry or whisk Komatsu away again for months at a time.

"Toriko! It's been 3 months! Where've you been?!" Komatsu shouted, walking up to the giant of a man he called his friend and partner, hugging his waist as Toriko patted his head.

"Mostly been training with Terry and trying to hunt down more ingredients for her to eat. She's so picky ya know." Toriko replied, inhaling deeply , the sheer variety of scents making him grin and chuckle. "Ya making Century soup for someone Komatsu?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna send some to Sunny so he can eat it alone. The only thing left I have to do is filter the soup, and add in Yun's Drool. But I figured I could wait and add that later." Komatsu said, pointing to the large pot that was slowly simmering on his stove, next to it was a Gallon Gourmet Food Preserver Pod.

"You do realize if you tell him penguin drool is one of the key ingredients he'll never touch it right?" Toriko asked, chuckling at the thought of Sunny screaming "DISGUSTIN!" when he was told the final ingredient.

"Yeah well I figure I can leave that out of the letter. I heard he was in the Country of Life again so if I mail it to him via Kruppoh, he'll have it in peace. I just have to make enough for Tina to have another bowl full as well." Komatsu said, chuckling and pointing to a much smaller Preserver Pod. "So what brings you here? Usually you call the hotel or my apartment when you have an ingredient hunt planned for us."

"Well it's certainly an "adventure", but not an ingredient hunt." Toriko said, chuckling and pulling two tickets with the IGO's signature letter's on them. "The Old man gave me some tickets to the IGO's Annual Gourmet Ball, but you know I'm not one for big stuffy events like that, so I figured I could give em to you." Komatsu's hands trembled as he took the golden tickets from Toriko's hand.

"THE IGO Annual Gourmet Ball?! The ball where all the richest corporation owners and elite are only invited?!" Komatsu shouted, looking over the shiny gold tickets in his hands "I thought the food they served there was first class! Why wouldn't you want to go?!"

"Well, he also gave two tickets to Sunny, Coco and Zebra. I have no idea who Coco and Zebra would bring, but Sunny has…issues with some of the elite who show up."

"Lemme guess, he doesn't think they're beautiful enough?" Komatsu chuckled.

"Yeah pretty much. That and one of the company's president's younger daughters started chewing on his hair once, thinking it was a Cotton Candy Squid Hat." Toriko explained, chuckling as he remembered the horrified look on Sunny's face when he had been bitten by a little girl who loudly protested that his hair was "icky" and the ensuing fight he'd had with her about what was really "icky" and what wasn't. "So He gave his tickets to Rin and she's asked me to go. So I don't need my tickets."

"Didn't you just say you don't like big stuffy events like that?" Komatsu said in a flat tone, raising an eyebrow at Toriko's contradicting statements.

"I don't but the Gourmet Ball also gives out really rare ingredients and trips as prizes, like the Rainbow Fruit's Wine, all expense paid trips to the Alcohol Islands, even some Gourmet World ingredients like BB Corn and Asura Tiger Steaks. I figured I could ride Terry there and maybe sneak her out some of the Gourmet World ingredients if I win them."

"If?" Komatsu asked, tilting his head to the side, unable to figure out why Toriko wouldn't win any contest when his opponents were mostly lazy rich people.

"Well, some of the contests are cooking based contests and I'm no chef. Rin on the other hand is great at cooking, and she knows how to use spices and fragrances to her advantage like no one other than the highest ranking chefs." Toriko explained. Despite the possibly illegal use of her fragrances, Rin could use them to cook and set a great mood for the food she prepared, and her sensitive and knowing nose was well beyond that of a bloodhounds. Nothing compared to Toriko's, but she could pick up on things most people would never notice.

"Huh, I didn't know that she had such a good sense of smell." Komatsu replied, realizing he'd only ever seen Rin when she was really fawning over Toriko or using her huge variety of battle fragrances.

"Well yeah, her Gourmet Cells are really based around manipulating scents and developing resistances to their effects." Toriko explained. "And she's got some sense of "aesthetic" like Sunny, she's just not as obnoxious about it."

"I thought her Gourmet cells were just super compatible with you?" Komatsu said, remembering how a small taste of Toriko's saliva from a kiss had brought her back from the brink of death in the Regal Mammoth.

"Well…that too, but don't let Sunny hear you say that." Toriko said, scratching his cheek awkwardly. "That and she can shut off her nose and nasal receptors entirely. Why else do you think she was willing to come near us after the Duran Bomb Fruit exploded all over us." Toriko asked.

"Gee, I dunno because she's obsessed with you?" Komatsu replied snarkily, chuckling as Toriko's cheeks turned a very light shade of pink for a moment and his face looked strained.

"Anyway! You need to find a date to bring to that ball, otherwise they won't let you in." Toriko said, not wanting to discuss Rin's obsession with him more than necessary. "Ya got anyone in mind?"

"Hmm, I suppose I could ask Tina to go with me." Komatsu said, realizing he didn't really know too many girls he'd ever ask to a date like function. Granny Setsuno was out of the question even if she had called him cute, and odds are she'd already been invited and would drag Jirou to the event if she really wanted to go. He didn't know her assistant Nono anywhere near well enough to ask her to such a big event. Tina was really the only girl he could think would enjoy such an event, both for the food and for the "big juicy scoop with sprinkles" she'd view the event as.  
He supposed he could ask someone like Match or Takimaru to come as friends with him, but he didn't know how to readily get a hold of Match, and the Gourmet Yakuza were generally not someone you wanted to be associated with. Not that it ever stopped him before, but from what he knew, Match was always really busy. Takimaru would probably have issues with it given that many of the ingredients on the menu were bound to be cooked or revived and therefore would clash with the Gourment Doctrine's teachings of only totally natural food consumption. Then Komatsu turned, looking pensive as he put on his oven mitts and moved the soup off the flame so it would cool before he filtered it and added Yun's drool. Then he spotted his knife, gleaming and lying to the side on his cutting board. "Hey Toriko, do you think Melk would like to come with me?"

"Melk?" Toriko replied, tilting his head and internally chuckling as he imagined the tiny Komatsu walking into anywhere with the giant of a man Melk standing beside's him. "I'm willing to bet he's already been invited, though we really should track down a Speaker Stone for him incase he lost his last one."

"What?! No! I meant his DAUGHTER Melk." Komatsu said, picking up his knife and casually waving it, a small dent to appear in the ceiling, causing Komatsu to sigh and put it back down.

"Oh yeah. I dunno, we should go ask her, maybe see if she can touch up your knife for the contests." Toriko said looking up at the new dent. "What're these walls made of anyway? I figured you'd never use that knife indoors."

"Well it did cause a few problems at first." Komatsu admitted, laughing awkwardly as he remembered the first few days of getting used to the knife's overwhelming power when he had accidentally cut several floors of the basement down when he was trying to cut a particularly difficult piece of Ruby Back Tortoise shell and he'd swung it too hard in frustration. "But I've gotten a lot better with it, and when we learned Food Honor, I REALLY improved my control over it."

"That's good to hear, I was worried I end up hearing about you cutting the entire hotel cleanly in half by accident." Toriko said, chuckling.

"Do you really have so little faith in my knife handling skills Toriko?" Komatsu replied a bit sadly.

"Oh hell no Komatsu, I'm even intimidated by that knife though." Toriko explained, eyeing the Derous Fang Blade. "Truth be told I'd like to give it a swing in combat at some point, I bet it'd make my Knife attacks something even I'd have trouble handling."

"Ah, ok" Komatsu replied feeling better. He was also really intimidated by his knife as well, but he knew how to control his arms to accommodate for its "sensitivity".

"Alright, well the Ball in about a week so we're gonna have to make a trip up to Melk Mountain sometime soon." Toriko said, looking thoughtful. "I'll see if I can get Johanas to come and get us for a helicopter ride and we can climb the rest of the way."

"Could we visit Coco and maybe have him take us there on Kiss?" Komatsu asked, not wanting to make the grueling and extremely long walkup the gigantic Melk Mountain Stairs. As he finished the sentence, a bellboy for the Hotel Gourmet poked his head into the kitchen, holding a company cell phone.

"Um, Chef Komatsu, you have a call." He said, walking in and handing Komatsu the phone. Toriko just raised his eyebrow and inhaled deeply again, he really loved the smell of Century Soup.

"Oh, thank you." Komatsu said as he took the phone, bowing to the bellboy as he left. "Um, Hello?"

"Hey Komatsu, it's Coco."

"Coco?!" Komatsu shouted in surprise. "I thought you didn't own a phone!"

"I don't I'm currently away on business so I can't lend you Kiss." Coco replied, laughing at Komatsu's excitable nature.

"Hey, how'd you know we'd want Kiss? Your fortune telling isn't usually that detailed." Toriko shouted. Komatsu put the phone on speaker and set it on an unused counter.

"Hello to you as well Toriko, and I was doing a reading for my current Client and I got a reading that said 'a small man with a dangerous fang would want to take to the skies on a bird'. I figured the man was Komatsu, and the only bird I can think of him being willing to ride is Kiss." Coco replied calmly.

"How convenient for you." Toriko replied irritably. He honestly liked the climb up Melk Mountain, but if Komatsu didn't want to do it, far be it from him to try and inconvenience his partner.

"It's alright, I guess We can climb it anyway." Komatsu said. "But it's really odd you'd travel for a client, I thought you always had them come to you."

"That's true, but this particular client has found where the Puffer Whales live when they aren't in the cave, and they requested I show up and help them remove the poison sack." Coco explained. "I must admit I was rather thrilled when I found out so I left rather quickly."

"Damn man! You gotta tell me where they are when you get back! And bring back some of the Puffer Whale Meat! I'd love a big plate of it again!" Toriko said, his voice getting louder as he got excited.

"If the client allows it, I'll bring you plenty of Puffer Whale Meat, I promise." Coco replied, chuckling at Toriko's natural gluttony taking control so quickly.

"Mr. Coco, I require your assistance in the kitchen, the first batch of Puffer Whales has just come in." A smooth and demure feminine voice said, causing both Komatsu and Toriko to give each other a confused glance.

"Ah, that'd be my client now. Sorry guys, I gotta go. I'll see you later."

"Have a good time Coco!" Toriko and Komatsu said before hanging up the phone.

"Hm, guess we can just go there after I give Kruppoh the soup to deliver." Komatsu said, shrugging and tucking the phone into his back pocket.

"Yeah, oh well, I can carry you on my back if ya get tired." Toriko offered.

"Nah, I'm gonna try and make it the whole way this time, and I'm pretty sure I can defend myself if anything comes after us." Komatsu replied, carefully wrapping his knife, and setting up the filters for the Century Soup.

~Snack time~

Toriko groaned as they approached the Gourmet TV building. He wasn't really fond of any news stations because they'd hound him with requests for interviews and he's just intimidate them into wetting themselves before they ran way. Admittedly after rival companies would take pictures of their enemies soiled pants or skirts, they started just leaving him alone. But he eventually figured out just ignoring them and going about his business worked just as well, and saved people the laundry bill.

He'd grown fond of Tina though. She was really pushy and was going to do whatever she wanted to do unless he gave her a damn good reason not to. But she meant well and she adhered to Komatsu, Coco, and his own requests when they asked, so she wasn't all bad. If nothing else she was one of the few people who could keep her knees from shaking when she saw him fight, and she was very knowledgeable about food ingredients and the wild beasts that they came from. For her birthday he'd actually sent her a signed copy of the book the IGO had made documenting all the species he'd discovered.

"IT'S THE HEAVENLY KING TORIKO AND CHEF KOMATSU!" He heard a larger reporter shout as they got in the doorway of the building, the staff they could see all hurriedly made phone calls and pulled out notebooks and pencils. By the time they got to the front desk, everyone was listening extremely intently to every word they said.

"H-hello sirs, h-how can I help you?" The secretary asked, looking extremely nervous at addressing two such important people.

"Um, is Tina in? I have a package for her." Komatsu said, holding up the smaller Gourmet Pod, he'd wrapped it in a blanket to stop the aurora from giving the soup away.

"Yes, she's doing a live broadcast right now though." The Secretary said, looking at her computer screen and somewhat regaining her composure. "If you'd like, you can wait outside the studio for her to get done. It should only be a few minutes."

No sooner had she said this than Tina burst through the doors to the stairwell, her boss hot on her heels.

"Dammit Tina you are lucky we had Cherri here to take your place! You can't just run off the set because you "got a feeling"!" her boss shouted before he spotted Toriko and Komatsu, causing his eyes to bulge out of their sockets in shock. "HEAVENLY KING TORIKO AND CHEF KOMATSU?!" he shouted, immediately straightening his tie and patting down his hair while Tina still charged at Komatsu and Toriko, beaming at them.

"Ya know I really wish people would just call me Toriko, the title is too long." Toriko muttered, making Komatsu chuckle as Tina beamed when she saw them.

"Komatsu! Toriko! What brings you here?" Tina asked, feeling happy all over that they'd come to see her. She'd been incredibly busy lately so she hadn't been able to tag along with them on their adventures. "PLEASE tell me you're here to kidnap me and take me on another adventure!" She'd gotten incredibly bored working at her office the whole time and never seeing the insane dangers and rare creatures she'd seen with Toriko and Komatsu. She was especially jealous that she hadn't been able to see the Gourmet Pyramid and get to try the Mellow Cola, and getting an appointment with Komatsu was nigh impossible now due to the fame he'd acquired with getting the Century Soup. She was tempted to just walk into the Hotel Gourmet Kitchen and ask him herself but she'd been put under strict watch from her boss and the Hotel Gourmet body guards were getting wise to her tricks.

"Well I just wanted to borrow Kruppoh for something Tina." Komatsu said, giving her a bright smile. "I kinda need him to deliver a package to Sunny in The Country of Life and I don't want to send my package through the normal mail." Tina raised an eyebrow at this and leaned in to whisper.

"Is it some kinda IGO paper or something?" She whispered, finding it odd that Komatsu of all people would have something so secretive he needed delivered.

"No, it's some Century Soup. I figure Sunny wouldn't wanna eat it in public, so he could eat it in a private room or something." Komatsu explained, tapping the pod gently.

"Ohhh." Tina replied, standing back up. "Sure, I can lend you Kruppoh for a quick delivery."

" YOU AREN'T LENDING ANYTHING TO ANYONE!" Tina's boss shouted, panting heavily behind the three of them. "You just ran out during a commercial break and STILL owe the studio for the laptop AND cameras you've lost, AND you still need to make up for all the work days you vanished in the middle of!"

"I TOLD YOU THOSE WEREN'T MY FAULT!" Tina shouted back. Truth be told none of those incidents were her fault. IGO had taken her camera and laptop once, multiple times taken her cameras, and her agreeing not to reveal Terry to people had completely ruined an entire trip. "AND THEY CAN BACK ME UP ON THAT!" She continued, pointing to Toriko and Komatsu.

"Yeah, the IGO did confiscate her stuff a few times." Toriko said absentmindedly. "You should probably ask them for the laptop back." Tina's Boss' jaw dropped.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT GOT OUR EQUIPMENT CONFISCATED?!"

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Tina shouted back, which was true outside the Troll Kong incident.

"Hey, I know what will help, why don't you come with us to Melk Mountain?" Komatsu asked, wanting to get the shouting match to stop.

"You're going to Melk Mountain?!" Tina replied, turning her loudness onto Komatsu. "Why would you do that? Melk takes all his orders through the mail system. Or did you order a special knife?"

"Well I do own a Melk knife, and I thought I could get it sharpened, and visit Melk." Komatsu replied. "Maybe you could interview he- him about his work." His stutter didn't go unnoticed by Tina or Toriko, but her boss seemed to be in his own little world at the prospect of getting the legendary knife maker in a live interview.

"I order you to go interview Melk The Knife Maker!" He shouted at Tina, "and if you don't come back with anything this time I'll stick you with paperwork for three months!" Tina's face went pale as he said that and she immediately ran to grab her camera and Kruppoh.

"Hey buddy," Toriko said, looking down at Tina's boss.

"Y-yes Mr. Toriko sir?" he said, feeling more than a bit nervous staring up at the gigantic legend of a man in front of him. He was a bit surprised when Toriko pulled out his black credit card and offered it to him.

"Any expenses Tina's racked up, just charge em to my card." Toriko said, grinning as the little man grabbed the card and ran off to swipe it.

"That was nice of you Toriko." Komatsu said, smiling.

"Eh, she did save my life, I can do this for her. And besides, it's not like I can't afford anything she's done. I doubt she spends anywhere near as much in equipment as I do on food in one day." He said, nonchalantly, chuckling as Tina came down in her adventure shorts and tank top with a camera and Kruppoh on her shoulder.

~Snack time~

"So lemme get this straight, We're gonna have to climb Melk Mountain? Can't we fly up there, or have Terry take us up there?" Tina asked when she saw just how HUGE the mountain steps were and how high and far they went. She, Toriko and Komatsu had Johannas fly them there in an IGO heliocopter, all three laden with huge backpacks.

"That's the plan." Komatsu said, shrugging as he adjusted his backpack and got out his new climbing pickaxe.

"And Terry is off hunting in the Gourmet world." Toriko replied, hopping up one of the giant steps calmly.

"YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE GOURMET WORLD INGREDIENTS AND YOU DIDN'T TELL PEOPLE?!" Tina shouted, gawking at Toriko, who didn't seemed particularly phased.

"No, Terry does. Since she's getting all the food, I'm letting her eat all she likes. I didn't catch the food and I'm pretty sure I couldn't capture them anyway, so I'm not gonna eat them until I at least stand a chance of capturing them myself." Toriko replied, now four steps ahead of Tina, and only two ahead of Komatsu. His trip to the Gourmet World had been extremely humbling, and while he knew he'd grown a lot stronger, but he was still sure he couldn't adapt to the nearly as quickly as he'd need to in order to survive, that was Zebra's turf. Tina sighed irritably.

"I guess I can respect that." She said, still a bit miffed, but she knew Toriko's address so she figured she could come by sometime and at least SEE the Gourmet World ingredients if Terry was back, and if not, she loved visiting Toriko and Terry regardless.

After four hours or so they spotted their first wild beast Toriko had been actively exhuding a bit of his intimidation to keep most animals away because many of them weren't too tasty, and they didn't need all the food.

"Toriko…is that bird hiccupping?" Komatsu asked, looking at a plump, oddly fuzzy looking bird, about the size of Toriko that was blushing and grinning stupidly while hiccupping, barely maintaining its flight.

"Yep, looks like a Drunken Birdfalo." Toriko said casually. "It's about Capture Level 3. Pretty harmless for the most part. They go around and gather as much alcohol as they can and then fly back to their nest to give it to their chicks. Mansem loves these things, but since he doesn't usually leave the 1st Biope, he barely gets to hunt them unless they wander by the 1st Biope."

"How do you know what kind of alcohol they have in them?" Komatsu asked, hoping maybe the color of the birds feathers or something like that could tell them what it had.

"No clue," Toriko confessed, sniffing "But by the smell of it, it's loaded with some whiskey and dark beers. Wanna capture it for dinner?"

"Sure thing! If it's anything like the other Drunken animals, grilling it will really bring out it's flavors!" Komatsu said excitedly

Toriko smirked as he threw a Flying Fork at it, pinning it to the mountainside, the bird coughing up some of the alcohol it had been saving up landed in Toriko's mouth.

"Mmm! Man that is tasty!" Toriko said, grinning as he walked of and grabbed the now dead bird from the mountain side and he heaved it over his shoulder. "Well come on, we gotta make more progress before it gets too dark."

They stopped halfway up to sleep for the night, Komatsu and Tina were exhausted from the trek, Toriko had brought a very large tent so all three could sleep together in it in his backpack. He started setting it up while Komatsu and Tina collected firewood from some of the trees nearby and started cooking.

"Hey, how's that Birdfalo comin along?" Toriko asked as he hammered in the last peg for the tent.

"We just started cooking it!" Komatsu said, he and Tina had spent most of their time defeathering and carving the massive bird. "It looks like it drank most of the alcohol it found, so the meat is really juicy."

"We could just wring some of it out and drink the alcohol while it cooks." Toriko suggested, picking up a large chunk of the meat, getting out a mug he had in his backpack, and squeezing it, allowing the dark drink to flow into his mug. "Man this is good stuff." He said, taking a sip and passing the drink to Tina and Komatsu, both of whom turned a bit red when they drank from it.

"That is strong!" Komatsu replied, giving the mug back to Toriko, deciding that he didn't want to drink anymore while he was still trying to grill the food.

"Itsh tashty!" Tina declared, causing Toriko to chuckle.

"Alright, We're gonna wait until the foods ready before You guys get anymore." Toriko said, downing the rest of his mug.

"We should save some for Melk, I bet she'd love it with some of the Melk Stardust." Komatsu said, smiling as he remembered the obscenely good taste of Melk Stardust.

"You guysh had Melk Stardust?!" Tina yelled, looking between Toriko and Komatsu with shock and awe. She'd only heard rumors about it.

"Yeah, it's really good stuff." Toriko said, also remembering the supreme tastiness of the Stardust. "You get one taste and you just don't want to stop eating it. It's not addictive, and not overwhelmingly strong, but it just tastes THAT good." Tina started drooling at the prospect of having something that good. "Honestly I'm surprised the IGO doesn't have it listed as a controlled substance, but given how freakin hard it is to find, I doubt it's remotely a problem.

"Ohh maan, that shounds like a Shuper Triple Shundae Shcoop of deliciousness!" She said, now trying to imaging what it tasted like.

"Alrighty, the Birdfalo is ready!"Komatsu announced, holding up a huge tray of medium rare steaks.

"Alright!" Toriko shouted, quickly dashing to Komatsu's side as he got some small plates out of his backpack and stacked 6 pieces of steak on each plate.

"I give my humble thanks for the wonderful bounty that this world has provided." They all said before digging in.

"Man this is good! The slightly burnt outside of the steaks holds in all the flavors so when you bite into it you get a delicious flood of the alcohol along with the tender meat! And the dryness of the alcohol really goes well with how juicy the steak is!" he shouted, smiling and devouring his pieces as quickly as possible while Tina and Komatsu cut theirs apart and ate them more slowly, both having immensely satisfied and red faces when they finished. Toriko was barely even buzzed so he helped them get into the tent and had Tina passed out on his left while Komatsu slept on his right.

When Toriko woke up, to a dull thumping noise, he also noticed both his sleeping partners had shifted, Tina was now sprawled on top of his pecs, while Komatsu was curled in a ball between his feet, his head sticking out of Toriko's blanket. Toriko chuckled as he gently lifted Tina, who immediately tried to grab back onto him, and used his feet to move Komatsu into her arms, so she'd cling to him instead. After he'd moved both of them to another side of the tent, Tina still embracing the curled up Komatsu, Komatsu's head resting firmly between her breasts He poked his head out of the tent warily and pleasantly saw the First Generation Melk walking up the steps, a massive sword shaped package attached to his back.

"Hey Melk! How're you doing?!"

"-,- - - - -!" Melk replied, smiling and waving at Toriko. "- - - - -?"

"Erm, what?" Toriko replied, unable to hear Melk's exceptionally quiet voice. "Do you still have that Speaker Stone?" Melk sighed and pulled the speaker stone out of a pocket in his pants and put it on.

"I said how're you doing Toriko, and how's Ichi?" Melk repeated, smiling as he got on the same level as Toriko.

"I'm doing fine, and as far as I know the old man is doing pretty good too." Toriko replied, extending his hand for a handshake, which Melk took happily.

"So what brings you to my humble abode?" Melk asked, smiling and seeing the tent Toriko had set up. "Surely you didn't just want to camp out here." Melk was no master chef himself, but he knew most of the animals that inhabited his mountain weren't particularly good ingredients.

"Nah, Komatsu got tickets to the Gourmet Ball and I suggested he take your daughter out to it." Toriko said, bracing himself for a wave of shouting from Melk, who he knew was a doting parent of extreme levels. Instead, Melk merely looked contemplative, scratched his massive beard then nodded.

"I suppose he's good enough for her, he does have her first custom made knife after all and he seems respectable enough." Melk replied, internally struggling with the thought of his daughter dating anyone, but he wasn't going to stop her if she said yes. He'd been told enough stories about Komatsu from Toriko and Ichiryu to believe that he wouldn't dare try anything funny with his daughter. Toriko chuckled in response.

"Also, how do you feel about being interviewed by a news reporter?" Toriko asked, figuring if he could save Tina some talking while she was recovering from her hangover he knew she had, the bird had so much dark beer and whiskey that, while he wasn't suffering any side effects, he was pretty sure that Tina and Komatsu would be mildly hung over for the morning. Melk again smiled.

"I suppose it can't hurt. I don't get much in the way of reporters up here so this'd be my first formal interview, and I suppose I could always use the publicity. I wonder if I still have my old suit in the cellar." He mumbled the last bit, looking pensive again as he and Toriko heard movement coming from the tent. "They ok in there?"

"Yeah, they were on me when I woke up so I put them together, Apparently Tina likes to hold things when she sleeps, no wonder she likes her Balloon Carrier Pidgeon." Toriko said, snickering a bit as he heard Tina and Komatsu shout some embarrassed gibberish as they awoke.

"I thought you said you were setting Komatsu up with my daughter." Melk said , a steely note in his voice.

"Woah calm down there big guy." Toriko said, not missing the veiled threat, "I'm just joking around with em, beside, those two don't seem likely to hook up. I doubt Tina would be able to keep up with Komatsu's busy schedule and perpetual jumping into danger he definitely can't handle and vice versa, they're likely to die of a heart attack first." Melk just stared blankly at Toriko.

"You've put an awful lot of thought into this…haven't you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, as far as he knew, Ichiryuu never really raised his kids to be romantics.

"Naaah, just simple observations really. It's the same reason if Komatsu and I'd never work out, ever if I were and girl and he was attracted to me. Ones got way too much energy for the other to keep up with and be remotely safe."

"What makes you think he's not attracted to you now?" Melk asked, finding these "observations" a bit specific.

"Well for one I'm not attracted to guys, so if he was I'd turn him down. And two, he and I swapped stories about how we saw Warden Love when she used her pheromones on us, and we basically were seeing the same thing. Though it sounded like he saw her in a thong, while I saw her in a beehive patterned pair of shorts." Toriko explained, blushing a bit when he mentioned Warden Love's' "altered" appearance.

"You are a strange pair that's for sure." Melk chuckled.

"Yep, but he's a fun little guy and an awesome friend. I'd be a fool not to be his friend." Toriko said as Komatsu and Tina emerged from the tent, both a bit redfaced. "Hey Komatsu , Tina, Melk's here!" both covered their ears instinctively and groaned.

"Toriko, no need to shout." Komatsu pouted, his eyes bulging when he saw Melk. "AIHEHEHAEIIII! THAT'S MELK THE SHARPENER?!" he shouted nonsensically, earning a glare from Tina.

"The one and only." Toriko said, chuckling. "Hang on you two, I think I've got some Breadig slices with me."

"Why would you carry breadig?" Komatsu asked "I mean, I know they practically CURE hangovers, but I don't think you CAN get drunk."

"Well for one, it's useful in case whoever I'm going to meet is a heavy drinker like Mansem, though he drinks nigh perpetually so he never really GETS a hangover. And two, I CAN get drunk, it just takes a lot of alcohol to do it. Also, the breadig has a pretty good shelf life and is good at moisture retention so it's not likely to go bad." He explained, handing a few slices of the fat juicy meat to Tina and Komatsu from a Gourment Container, before cramming a few slices into his mouth and offering a few to Melk, who took it and looked at it a bit.

"This wasn't cut very neatly" Melk muttered before taking a bite and bursting into a smile "but it is good!"

"Hey, what did you eat down in the Heavy Hole anyway Melk?" Toriko asked, as he started packing up the tent, remembering pretty much everything he ran into down there was far from friendly and probably wasn't anywhere near as tasty as most of the stuff he could find along the mountain side.

"Erm, I'm not really sure what I ate to be honest." Melk said, scratching his beard absentmindedly. "I just had the Scorpion Demon Cattle fetch me food when I'd start getting hungry and he'd some back with food. It was usually pretty good."

"Wait…seriously?!" Toriko shouted, his eyes bulging out of his head slightly. "So you haven't had a home cooked meal in years?!"

"Yep, can't wait to get home, I bet my daughter will be thrilled to see me." Melk said, smiling. Toriko was more amazed the man wasn't starving. Though he guessed Melk knew Food Honor, so he may have stocked up on nutrients long ago. "So whose the young lady?" Melk asked, pointing to Tina. "You mentioned a Tina earlier, but what does she do?"

"I'm Tina, a reporter from the Gourmet TV News Network." Tina said quickly, her hangover all but gone now. "When we get to your house and eat, would you be up for an interview?" she asked, her eyes all alight at the prospect of getting an interview with the elusive man.

"Sure thing!" Melk said, smiling, walking over and patting her on the back before picking he rup and putting her on one of his shoulders. "I've been wondering why nobody ever came up here to interview me, I've got some tutorials on basic knife care I'd love to have people see!" he said enthusiastically. "Not to mention I can show them how I make a basic knife, and what kinds of whetstones to use." Melk rambled, on, only encouraging Tina's enthusiastic nodding. She was about to get her big scoop alright, and Melk seemed more than happy to deliver more than enough content to run a special.

"Sooo…I'm thinking we're gonna be spending a lot of time away from those two." Toriko said, putting Komatsu on his shoulder, mimicking Melk.

"Well, Tina will finally get her interview, so we can't exactly complain now can we?" Komatsu chuckled as they all ascended the rest of the mountain.

-Chef's Notes-

This fic takes place just before the Gourment Tournament, after the Four Beasts Battle. I'll try and hint at that a few times, but this is mostly just so you guys know the general setting and what powers/food Toriko and the gang has already eaten.

Yes, Tina is gonna be in here. GET OVER IT. I like her. She's a good character, I wrote a huge comment on the Toriko Wiki explaining her merits and faults. She's not gonna be here for the Ball…maybe. I haven't decided yet. So keep the Anti-Tina comments to yourselves. She's a fun character and interacts well with Toriko and Komatsu. The main focus of the story ain't her. As the title and pairing listed clearly show.

Also, no Melk or Melk II character choice? For shame , For shame.

Yes I fleshed out Rin's powers and abilities a bit...at least to the logical extent I could without putting her on Toriko or any one super powerful's level. I'd be willing to bet she knows quite a few animals and the unique fragrances that they give off, and probabaly even how to extract said fregarances.

Yes the package Melk was carrying is supposed to be the "knife" (when something exceeds your body size, it ain't a knife no more in my mind) he gives to Ichiryuu to prepare "AIR".

Yes I just (tried to) debunk the TorikoxKomatsu and TinaxKomatsu pairings. At least for this fic, I personally find the TinaKoma pairing mildy amusing. Not such a fan of the ToriKoma pairing since I believe Toriko is about as sexual as a rock and we all know what Komatsu saw when he got a whiff of Warden Love's pheromones. That was definitely a woman.

Yes… ok I don't need to add that part but I felt like it. ANYWAY! FOOD PUNS! FOOD PUNS FOR ALLL! Ahh gods I wish. As much as I thought the "not swearing" words in the anime were amusing, I'll stick to the real swear words here no matter how amusing they are. (Do not discuss the anime here, keep that to PM's. I just wanted to show I was going to stick to real swear words)

Creatures I made up:

Drunken Birdfalo  
[Capture Level 3]  
Dangerwise, they're 1, but it's really random to find one outside the Heavy Drinker Archipelago, which is expensive to get access to. Drunken ones are even weaker because they can't maintain flight too well.  
Natural habitat: Heavy Drinker Archipelago  
Flies around and collects as much alcohol as it can and absorbs it into it's body, which puffs up, then it releases through it's tongue into the mouths of it's young, or it drink some itself for nourishment.  
Based off the notion of a Hairy Buffalo, which is a completely random mix of drinks thrown together, traditionally in a bathtub. So it can either be really tasty, or TERRBILE, or anywhere in-between

Breadig  
[Capture Level 1]  
Dangerwise, they're no more dangerous than your average pig. (which, if provoked can be pretty freakin mean according to my farmer friends, but nothing DEADLY)  
Natural habitat: Forests, Fields, and Farms.  
Breadig are pigs that have a skin that is identical to warm toast and butter. Great for muscle enthusiast due to their high protein and card count which supply protein for muscle to heal, and carbs for the body to burn as energy. The meat is also highly juicy, and full of vitamin enhanced juices.  
Research has been done showing that a bacon sandwich is an incredible was to knock hangovers due to the high carbs and protein that help jump start the metabolic system and help absorb the chemicals that give you the hangover. The additionally large amount of liquids help knock out the dehydration effects of a hangover, making this truly a drunk's favorite breakfast meat. And it's part bacon, all hail bacon.

Now to my viewers who will be asking about my other fics (since I have not updated them in over a year and a half.)

This IS going to only be a 3 chapter fic, maybe four.

1 This chapter

2. Asking Melk out/getting to the ball

3. The Ball itself

4. if I think whatever I do for the Gourmet Ball requires a second chapter.

Yes I'm working on Ah! Keiichi Gets An Angel and Happy Lucha Charade, my laptop's hard drive has crashed twice and I have had to retype all 15,000 words for AKGAA, and 5000 for HLC. TWICE only to have them deleted both times. *sits in the corner and weeps* (I churned this out in a multihour blitz because I'd been watching the Toriko anime during studio work) Fortunately I now have a brand new hard drive that is working perfectly fine. (I am also Studying in Italy this semester so being all touristy and classes has kept me fairly busy)

Also, I have no betareader for this fic. one would be appreciated


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